Shropshire Star

Ironbridge Power Station demolition to take 12 more months - with video

The owners of Ironbridge Power Station are pressing ahead with the next 12 months of redevelopment work following a "successful demolition" on site last week.

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The aftermath of the demolition

The station's Bunker Bay was torn to the ground on Friday during the second major stage of the operation, which still has another year to go.

Explosive charges were put in place early last week before a siren rang out through the Gorge on Friday morning.

A countdown echoed through onsite speakers and the detonator was pressed shortly after 11am.

Watch the Bunker Bay demolition:

Harworth Group, the power station site owner, erected a 250m blast zone to protect workers and residents from rubble and dust as months of preparation condensed into one short moment.

Iain Thomson, of Harworth, said: "We'd been working on the Bunker Bay demolition programme for a number of months.

"As for the cooling towers blowdown, it was subject to a detailed design and full compliance with a series of conditions required by Shropshire Council.

"Explosive charges were placed last week ahead of a successful demolition just after 11am. We're delighted that Demolition Services Ltd and our advisors, including RVA Group, did another first-class job.

The Bunker Bay is demolished at Ironbridge Power Station

"Everything went exactly to design just after 11am. We promised local people to get this done as close to 11am as possible and I'm pleased we achieved that with minimal disruption.

"Clear-up will involve a sift of materials, with some to be reused in the development process where possible.

"We have a further 12 months worth of work to complete on the demolition and we're aware that the noise generated does occasionally frustrate local people. We'll continue to work to our stipulated hours granted by the council and we thank people for their ongoing patience."

This comes after the power station's cooling towers were blown up in December last year.

Looking back:

The site has been earmarked for 1,000 homes, a retail and commercial centre and a primary school as part of a housing project which developer Harworth predicts could take up to 15 years to deliver.